She can't tolerate too many of the superhero stories, though, as the women are always story props or decorations: "Why does Lois Lane always have to get saved by Superman? That is just STUPID!!!"

I told Badger about Iz's moaning, and she recommended Go Girl (very positive, lots of potential), P.S. 238 (cool), and SnapDragons (also cool). She also lent us Amelia Rules!, cited as a favorite of SJ's Franny.

Yesterday I had a spare hour (!) and so bailed on a dreaded Home Despot run in favor of raiding the local comix shop to get Iz some Seattle trip treats. The good folks at Oni Press did not disappoint. I found three great collections:

I then told one of the clerks that I was looking for strong non-sexist stories for girls Iz's age. He remarked that he didn't know how helpful he could be as he'd never been a seven-year-old girl, but then recommended:

Avengers Power Pack

Which was great, and a new series:

Princess Natasha

Which I thought sucked though Iz might be more tolerant. I also thought that we could wait for the Power Pack collections, so as to skirt all the fucking ads. (My kids might spend too much time staring at the TV screen, but they never get to see any commercials. Not. Ever.)

For myself, I got a chewy Wonder Woman comic (Hiketeia) I'd been wanting for a while. It is worth having for the cover alone. I do like WW's interweaving of classical Greek material, and when I find some Iz-friendly WW issues (e.g., no allusions to porn), I will get them, too. Already got the first new WW issue, although as usual I found it hard to justify all the ornamental bodaciousness, despite the strength of the story. Old news, still irritating news.

(It was gratifying to meet up with Badger today and find that she found Hiketeia groovy, too. As I can never anticipate when she's going to tell me, kindly but firmly, that something I like is the stupidest fucking thing ever shat out of a lazy writer's bottom.)

The best part of the excursion was definitely the two counter guys looking at my WW cover and then debating who would actually win a fight between Wonder Woman and Batman. I kept glancing behind me to see if I was on camera, but no...it was real. And it was very fun. When I said that I would love to stay and continue the discussion, I meant it. But Mali was waking up and I could tell by the way she was snorfling on my shoulder that a non-comix friendly howl was on its way.

Almost every comic mentioned above stands out because of great storytelling. Girl or boy doesn't matter at all--they are gender-transcendently character-driven. Stock up now.

It is annoyingly hot here today so I gave Iz and Violet all the comics early, plus the last two Worst Witch books sent by Iz's literary godmother. They love everything (esp. Jetcat and Banana Sunday) and will require no minding from me for the rest of the evening.